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Sunday, August 16, 2015

Havoc Battle #2 - Cavalry and Behmoths

We played our second "learning" game of Havoc
last night. In game one we learned the basics of using infantry and ranged combat,
so this game concentrated on learning the rules for cavalry and magic.
Just for fun, I threw a behemoth into the mix - this lovely troll from
the D&D pre-paints range:

I
decided that the battle took place around a desert oasis. Desert
nomads (6 Light Cavalry) had captured a Troll in the mountains and were
dragging him to be sold to the Roman prefect. Unfortunately, they have camped overnight at an oasis
claimed by the Amazon Queen -- in fact, you will see the Queen's obelisk
which plainly says that camping overnight is illegal and punishable
by death (also please visit the gift shop on your way out). Too bad the nomads can't read hieroglyphic!

Forces:

Nomads

8 Light Cavalry

1 Behemoth

Amazons3 Light Cavalry

3 Ranged Cavalry

1 Heavy Chariot

1 Magus

Extended discussion about multiple combats follows - skip down to the picture below if you just want the battle report: While
we set this game up to learn cavalry and magic the biggest thing we learned was
about multiple combats. How to resolve multiple combats is not clear at
all in the rules, as noted in my previous post. But I think we
have finally figured out what works for us.

Here's a generic example
from a situation that came up in this game. During the cleverly named
Phase 1 and Phase 2, Blue ends up in a situation where he will be facing
multiple Orange opponents in the Assault phase:

Orange1 <> Blue <> Orange2

Let's
take a look at the case where Blue has momentum first. If Blue were
only facing Orange1, then Blue would declare his attack and defense
allocations and Orange1 would do the same. If Blue exhausts his attack
dice without killing Orange1, then Orange1 would get to attack back with
any dice she placed in attack. Simple enough.

Now
let's look at the multiple combats. Blue still declares first, Orange1
and Orange2 follow. Here's where the rules fail us -- what happens
now?

In Game 1 we played that Blue next had to allocate his attack
dice against Orange1 and Orange2. In other words, Blue would declare "I
have 4 dice in attack. I will attack Orange1 with 2 and Orange2 with
2". That kind of worked but introduces a new step of allocating which
dice go against which opponent, which was easy to forget in the heat of
battle.

This time we tried - and we think it's more in line with the intent of the rules - this process:

Blue declares dice in attack and defense

Orange1 and Orange2 declare dice in attack and defense

Blue now declares which model he is going to attack first. For this
example, say it is Orange1. He continues to attack until attack dice are
depleted, the target is eliminated OR he decides he wants to change
targets to Orange2 (the rules don't say anything about this, but it seems like having the option to stop an attack and switch targets makes sense)

The model Blue attacked first (let's say Orange1 for this example) - if
it has not been eliminated AND has attack dice allocated, may then
attack Blue

5.
If Blue is not eliminated, he may now attack Orange2. He may NOT
switch back to Orange1 - that combat has been resolved. So if Blue
manages to eliminate Orange2 and still has attack dice remaining -
tough!

This
does break the "attack until your dice are depleted" paradigm slightly,
but it preserves the "one combat is resolved completely before moving
on to the next" rule. In the absence of any official word, this is how we
are going to play it. (Note: Further conversations with Mr. Spivey have not contradicted this, so I'm pretty sure this is correct, but I did forget to ask him about whether you could switch opponents like in step 3. )

Now
- on to battle! We set up in opposite corners. My nomads had just
yoked up the Troll and were about ready to head out when from the North
East corner of the board (we played the Dawn scenario so had to decide
directions - it turned out there was no missile fire into the sun during
the game so it didn't come into play) arose a dust cloud signalling
riders approaching.

On the Amazon right rode the ranged cavalry, in the
center were the light cavalry and the Magus (the centaur) and on the
left was the Amazon chariot. (Directions are relative to the players, so the Amazon Left is the Roman Right)

I
won momentum for the first turn and decided to split my force. I sent
four riders off to the right to ride around the oasis and attack the
Amazons from the rear while 4 nomads pulled the Troll forward. The
Amazons responded by creating an L shaped force - the ranged cavalry
rode in front of the nomads to "cross their T" while the light cavalry
and chariot prepared to charge into the Troll and his handlers. With
nothing in melee we moved on to the next round.

Left - first impact hit death. Center top -Nomad flanking move arrives from around the oasis. Right - Behmoth overwhelmed by cavalry and chariot.

In Phase 2, momentum changed to the Amazons. In Phase 1, I had moved my
nomads forward and spread them in a line to protect the Troll from the
archers. This worked but I hadn't anticipated the light cavalry's
response which was to gang up on my rightmost nomad with 2 cavalry
while another rode to my left nomad and killed him in our first Impact
Hit death. That's his red blotch in the picture above.

(BTW - the Impact Hit is the most elegant way I've seen to handle a cavalry charge. I love this mechanic).On Phase 2, I sent my middle 2 nomads racing forward to
engage the Amazon ranged cavalry while the Troll charged the victorious
Amazon -- which unfortunately left him exposed to the Amazon chariot's
charge. Hmm. That could be bad -- I was really afraid that I would
lose the Troll Behemoth without him ever getting to engage in
combat...luckily the Troll survived the impact hits through his Damage
Reduction ability. Phew!

That
relief was short lived. In the ensuing combat, even though all 5 MAD
dice were put in defence, the Troll fell to the combined attacks of the
chariot and light cavalry. I was forced to burn all my defence die
against the chariot and even still received a glancing blow. But when the
light cavalry followed up, the Troll just had nothing left and with an
attack roll Augmented by the magus, the great beast died without ever once landing
a strike of his own! Ouch!

Things
were looking a little grim for the nomads at this point. However, the
force I had sent around the oasis had just arrived on the scene and this
helped turn the tide. While the Amazon chariot lumbered through a 180
degree to face the newly arrived nomads, 2 of the nomad reinforcements charged into the ongoing
battle against the ranged cavalry. The centaur Magus fell and when all
was said and done a single nomad remained. Hearing shouts behind him,
he saw the nomad named Yellow Cap withstand the Impact hit of the Amazon
chariot. The sole remaining ranged cavalry was racing toward the
battle. Spurring his horse into action, he chased after her but was too
late.

Helplessly, he watched Yellow Cap in his desperate fight against the last two Amazon units.

Helplessly,
he watched Yellow Cap in his desperate fight against the last two
Amazon units. That's not a typo - the first round of battle ended in a
draw. :-)

While attacks hit and glancing blows landed on both sides,
neither managed to score a kill. Due to the Third Law he was unable to
join the combat and there was no point in moving him during the cleverly
named Phase 1 and Phase 2. So after the Assault phase, we skipped
ahead to the next Assault phase! It was quite cinematic actually - his
last foe vanquished, he turns to engage the enemy but his exhausted
horse is running too slow, too slow...

This
final Assault phase was gripping as the chariot landed two blows on Yellow
Cap but his small shield held and he was able to attack back. Wonder of
wonders, he managed to kill the chariot. This left the last Amazon
figure, the ranged cavalry, to be ignominiously ridden down in an
impact hit by the nomad who had been chasing her.

The cinema just
writes itself -- clearly Yellow Cap managed to dispatch the Amazon
chariot riders as the cavalry archer drew a dagger and was about to
strike him down from behind -- just as his last remaining companion
arrived on the scene to cut her down. Can't you just see it? We
could! And that's why we are really loving Havoc.
Even thought the chips were down for the nomads, the battle still came
down to one final epic confrontation that let them just barely take the
win. There's a rule in Havoc called "Never say die!" -- that's the best attitude to have for the game as well!